MISCELLANEA MEDITERRANEA • Archaeologia T ransatlantica XVIII edited by R. Ross Holloway CENTER FOR OLD WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE. RHODE ISLAND 2000 Contents Preface .............•............................................vii by R. Ross Holloway The Sanctuary of Hercules-Melkart at Gades and the Arabic Sources .......... by William E. Mierse Iberian Warrior Figurines and the Warrior Image in Western Mediterranean Sculpture. • . • . .. 11 by Joseph J. Basile Etruscan Sigla eGraffid"): Prolegomena and Some Case Studies. • . .. 25 by Nancy T. de Grurnmond, Ceil Bare and Amy Meilleur Hera, Hieros Gamos and the Chora of Poseidoni a ...................... " 39 by Naomi J. Norman An Unidentified Italic 'Touta' in Southern Italy ......................•... 49 by Maurizio Gualtieri Financing and Design: The Development of the Parthenon Program and the Partheno.n Building Accounts ............................... 61 by Spencer A. Pope Theseus in South Metope 16 of the Parthenon ..........•................ 71 by Crispin Corrado Goulet The Mutilation ofStatuary in Classical Greece .....•................... " 77 by R. Ross Holloway MATIKOI KATM.EI:MOI or Binding Curse Tablets: A Journey on the Greek Dark Side . • . .. 83 by Christofilis Maggidis Boukephalas . • • . .. 101 by RolfWinkes The Roman-Byzantine dwelling in the Galilee and the Golan: "House.. or "An"'f'artment ") . .............................•....... 109 by Katharina Galor The Authors ..............••..........•.....•....•.............. 125 v F ETRUSCAN SIGLA ("GRAFFITI"): PROLEGOMENA AND SOME CASE STUDIES Nancy T. de Grummond, Ceil Bare, and Amy Meilleur In I996, this project to make a comprehensive study ofEtruscan sigla was This anicle deals with the short inscriptions and symbolic initiated in the Depanment ofClassics at Florida State University, under markings found in Etruscan excavations that are frequent­ the direction ofNancy T. de Grummond, who had become interested in these markings after excavating many examples at the Hellenistic hilltop ly referred to as graffiti, and here will be called sigla. It is setdement ofCetamura del Chianti. Seventy-five examples are published the purpose of this anicle to define a sphere of study in by M. 1. RobertSon, in Rivista di Epigrafra Etrusca, Studi Etruschi 55 (r989) p. 279-309. On Cetamura in general, see most recently N.T. de Etruscan archaeology that has thus far received insuffi­ Grummond, P. Rowe, C. Ewell and C. Bizzani, Excavations at Cetamu­ cient attention, and to develop some guidelines for re­ ra del Chianti [Civitamura], 1992,-1998: Preliminaty Report, Etruscan search on this body of materiaL First will come general Studies, 6, 1999, p. 163-184. The original panicipants in this project-Ceil Bare, Amy Meilleur, introductory remarks on terminology, the extent of the Catherine Norden and Jeramialr Yeksavich-were selected from under­ material, the state of scholarship, and existing theories graduate majors and minors in Classics at FSU. The project included thorough research in libraries and autoptic Studies ofsigla in Italy, as well about the markings. This will be followed by a discussion as hundreds ofhours ofcollating and computerizing data. Many sessions of the building ofa database for sigla and a recommended were devoted to analysis and discussion of the material within the team. protocol for the recording ofthese marks. At the end, two The results of the research of two members of the group are presented here as the first fruits of the Study. The undergraduate researchers stud­ sample studies of individual characters will be provided. ied 10 individual sigla or characters as pan of the pilot Study; of these, two have been selected for presentation here. The formar fur their re­ ports is based on a vision of the final prodUct ofthis project as a series of Terminology enrries in a dictionaty ofall Etruscan sigla. The ~ord graffiti is regularly used by scholars of Etruscan We would like to thank the following for assistance with our re­ search: Larissa Bonfante. Alexis Christensen, Kimberly Christensen, and language and culture to refer to a category ofvery short in­ in panicular Silvana Tovoli. We are grateful to Jane Whitehead for sup­ scriptions and symbols in which, normally, no ;lcrnal plying complete documentation on many unpublished sigla from the site words are to be recognized. 1 The inscriptions are ofone or ofla Piana, near Siena. In citing examples ofEtruscan writing. we have observed the gener­ more characters. (For the purposes of this study, an arbi­ ally recognized conventions for transliteration, concisely tabulated by M. trary decision was made normally to include sigla with up Palloruno, Testimonia Linguae EtruScae, 2nd cd., 1968, p. 13. The following abbreviations will be used for frequendy cited works: to three characters, so long as the three did not produce a ClEo CorplL~ lnscciptionurn EtruScarum. recognizable word.) The characters may themselves be let­ Cristofani, Inrroduzione: M. Cristofani. Inrroduzione allo ters (Figs. 1-2 ), numbers (Figs. 3-7, 9) or signs that can­ studio dell errusco. 2.nd ed., 1991. NSc: Notizie degli Scavi. not within the present state of our knowledge be Pandolfini: M. Pandolfini and A.1. Prosdocimi. Alfabetari e correlated with the alphabet or numerals (Fig. 10 ). The insegnamento della scrirtura in Etruria e nell'ltalia antica, sigla seem to refer at times to particular words, at others to 1990, p. 3-89. REE: Rivista di Epigrafia Etrusca (Studi Etruschi). some meaning beyond the written characters.2 The term Rix: H. Rix. Etruskische T ene, Editio Minor. 2. vols. 1991. graffiti, related to the Italian verb graffiare, "to scratch," in Roller: 1. Roller, Nonverbal Graffiti, Dipinti and Stamps, Gordion Special Studies 1, 1987. its most literal sense refers to inscriptions scratched or in­ Sassatelli, 198I182.: G. Sassatelli. Graffiti alhbetici e conrras­ segni nel viIlanoviano bolognese, Emilia Preromana, 9/10, 198I18:z.. p. 147-2.55. 1 See, e.g., Sassatelli, 1994, p. 213. Sassarelli. I994' G. Sassatelli. ed. Iscrizioni e graffiti della cit­ 2 Among the other terms sometimes used to refer generally to ta etrusca di Marzabotto. 1994. SE: Studi Etruschi. such inscriptions are the words countersign and trademark. Since the furmer is vague and the Ianer can be quite mislead­ ing, these two words are avoided in this study. 25 Etruscan Sigla ("Graffiti"); Prolegomena and Some Case Studies . cised on a surface. Clearly related to these are short paint­ Etruscan sigla (see Table I of each study). Siglal writing ed inscriptions (dipinu) as well as some Stamped represents a current ofcommunication available to a wide characters that seem to have a function similar to that of spectrum of society in Etruria, including those who were the incised ones. Thus far in Etruscan studies it seems that not truly literate. Some Etruscan sites have far more in­ no term has been brought into accepted general usage that scriptions with sigla than inscriptions with words, indicat­ embraces the characters and signs made in these various ing that siglal writing was an important everyday mode of ways and that adequately expresses their function of con­ communication. veying meaning by a simple sign rather than a word. M. The range ofcultural material providing evidence for Buonamici3 dealt with several different kinds of short in­ siglal writing includes: pottery (by far the largest cate­ scriptions, and among the terms he employed in Italian gory), loomweights, spindle whorls, terracotta sarcophagi, was the word sigla, noting that some scholars had used this canopic urns, roof tiles and other architectural tetracottas, term to refer to abbreviations, ligatures and/or symbols. It lead missiles, coins, stone weights, boundary stones, stone is here proposed to use a Latin form ofthis word, based on walls, bronze artifacts of many different types (axes, ra­ an established English usage according to which the term zors, knives, sickles, helmets, fibulas), and bone and ivory "sigla" is regarded as a noun borrowed from Latin (neuter plaques.6 plural), meaning "signs, abbreviations, letters or charac­ ters, standing for words, shorthand, etc.,,4 The singular State ofScholarship form "siglum" will also be used, as well as an adjective, Many excavators have found sigla to be insignificant or "siglal." In regard to the Etruscan examples, these terms meaningless and have neglected to publish them, or have will refer to a mark or marks--incised, painted or failed to give them the attention bestowed upon longer in­ stamped-that convey a meaning in a manner apart from scriptions. Handbooks ofthe Etruscan language normally normal linguistic means, i.e., the writing of words. The ignore this category ofevidence? H. Rix, in his authorita­ word graffiti will not be discarded completely, but will still tive collection of Etruscan texts declares that these writ­ be used to refer to the quite numerous examples of siglal ings are "Untexten" and therefore are to be excluded from writing that are scratched or incised upon a surface.5 the st).ldy of the language.8 On the other hand, some ex­ cavators have published their sigla with care in the annual Extent of the material Rivista di epigrafia etrusca of Studi Etruschi, notable To date, no systematic study of Etruscan sigla has been among which are the specimens from Spina, Roselle, Ce­ made, a surprising state of affairs in light of the fact that tamura and Capua.9 Recently Sassatelli has produced thousands have been excavated, and that they are com­ comprehensive sWYeys of specimens of writing from monly found on Etruscan sites ranging from small to large Marz.abotto (the sigla are treated by E. Govi) and Villano­ and including habitation, tombs, and sanctuaries. Exam­ van Bologna, immensely useful in that each study pro­ ples may be cited from as early as the seventh century b. c. vides a complete corpus ofsigla from a particular location (at least) and as late as the first century b.c., and from as (in the case of Bologna, for a particular period).10 Final far north as Spina and the Po Valley, and as far south as excavation reports such as the recent one on the Hellenis­ Capua and Nola.